Board game publisher Days of Wonder has announced the November release of the BattleLore game system, the company's most ambitious project to date. Combining elements of board games and miniatures games, BatteLore melds history and fantasy together putting players in charge of vast arrays of miniature troops, dwarves, wizards and monsters on a medieval European battlefield at the outset of the Hundred Years War.
The BattleLore Base Set (MSRP $70) is pricy, but it contains a real wealth of materials including 210 highly detailed unpainted plastic miniatures, with 58 full color banners, an extensive 80-page Players Guide, with separate Adventures Booklet, a double-sided battlemap, 46 Terrain and Landmark tiles, 60 command cards, 60 Lore cards, 48 Summary cards, 2 War Council sheets, 24 Lore Master Tokens, 12 Battle Dice, and a Days of Wonder Online Access number, giving players free access to the BattleLore Online Adventures Editor.
The BattleLore game draws on the strengths of Days of Wonder's Memoir '44 board game with card-driven mechanics that offer game players and role-players a unique twist on epic fantasy. Game play takes place on a large scale hex board filled with armies, legendary races, and monstrous creatures that fight over varied terrain and landmarks to capture the enemy's banners. Players create their own War Councils choosing from a number of powerful Lore Masters such as Wizards, Clerics, Warriors and Rogues and then hire mercenary bands chosen from among mythical races such as the Iron Dwarves and Monstrous Creatures.
BattleLore's over two hundred 25mm (about 1-inch tall) miniatures use a new patent-pending, Banner Bearer mechanic to provide both a new look to a player's armies and to display all the unit-specific information that was traditionally compiled in booklets, reference sheets or located on the miniatures' bases. The Banners not only provide information on the capabilities of the unit they represent, they also represent the goal, which is to capture the enemy's banner, and thus provide the mechanism by which 2 players (or 2 teams) can play a fantasy battle game of epic proportions in just 60 minutes.
Day's of Wonder's CEO Eric Hautemont (see 'Eric Hautemont on BattleLore') sees BattleLore as a 'foundation game,' with the basic set laying the groundwork for the future. Starting in March of 2007, Days of Wonder will release two special blister packed miniatures per month, and in July comes the first of two annual expansions of the BattleLore armies. These expansions will not be blind-box-packaged like the typical CMG release, rather they will be sold like board game expansions, giving every purchaser the same number of additional figures.
In order to stimulate pre-orders of the BattleLore game, Days of Wonder is providing retailers who pre-order the game with a free promotional miniature, The Hill Giant, to give away to any customer who pre-orders the game. The Hill Giant comes packed in a blister complete with a banner and a lair tile. Retailers who pre-order the game will also receive The BattleLore Primer, a printed booklet that further describes the BattleLore game system. Days of Wonder is planning on assisting retailers in some sort of organized play program, but that won't get underway until 2007.
